13.5. What is the difference between san, sama, kun and chan?

In Japan, when talking about other people, one uses honorific
titles. These go after the person's name. The most common title is
san. It means all of "Mr", "Mrs", and "Ms." Mr Tanaka is referred
to as Tanaka-san, as is Mrs Tanaka, and their unmarried
daughter. Other common titles include sama, a more polite version
of san, sensei, for teachers, kun and chan. These
titles are placed after the name. These titles are not usually used
with one's own name.

Correct use of titles is considered very important in Japan. Calling
somebody by just their name, without adding a title, is called
yobisute (呼び捨て), and is bad manners.

Although titles are usually added to people's names, there are some
exceptions. They are not used when talking about a family member, or
another member of one's "in-group", to someone from outside the
group. At work, Ms. Shimizu calls her boss "Tanaka san" when she talks
to him, or about him to other people. But when she talks to a customer
from outside their company, she calls him just "Tanaka".

San is also used when talking about entities such as
companies. For example, the offices or shop of a company called
Kojima denki might be referred to as Kojima Denki-san by
another nearby company. This may be seen on the small maps often used
in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of
surrounding companies are written using san.

San is also applied to some kinds of foods. For example, fish
used for cooking are sometimes referred to as sakana-san.

Both san and its more formal equivalent, sama, imply
familiarity. In formal speech or writing, the
title shi may be preferred.

Chan (ちゃん) is a form of san used to refer to children
and female family members, close friends and lovers. The change from
san to chan is typical of a kind of "baby talk" in Japanese
where "sh" sounds are turned into "ch" sounds, such as chitchai
for chiisai, "small".

Chan is also used for adults who are considered to be kawaii
(cute or loveable). For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger gained the
nickname Shuwa-chan (シュワちゃん).

Chan is sometimes applied to male children if the name does not
fit with the kun suffix. For example, a boy called Tetsuya
may be nicknamed Tetchan rather than Tekkun for reasons more
to do with phonetics than anything else.

Although it is usually said that honorifics are not applied to
oneself, some women refer to themselves in the third person using
chan. For example, a young woman named Maki might call
herself Maki-chan rather than using a first person pronoun like
watashi. Chan is also used for pets and animals, such as
usagi-chan. (See also 9.1. What are the personal pronouns of Japanese?.)

In the same way that chan is a version of san, there is also
chama (ちゃま) from sama. Other variations of chan
include chin (ちん), and tan (たん).

Other titles

Director Yasujiro OzuOzu-kantoku

Occupation-related titles

Instead of the above general honorifics, it is fairly common to use
the name of the person's job after the name. It is common for sports
athletes to be referred to as name + senshu (選手) rather than
name + san. A master carpenter called Suzuki might have the title
tōryō (棟梁), meaning "master carpenter", attached to his name,
and be referred to as Suzuki-Tōryō rather than
Suzuki-San. Television lawyer Kazuya Maruyama is referred to as
Maruyama Bengoshi (丸山弁護士) (literally "Maruyama-lawyer")
rather than Maruyama-san.

Inside companies, it is also common to refer to people using their
company rank, particularly for those of a high rank, such as company
president, shachō (社長) or other titles such as
buchō (部長), department chief, etc.

Honorific job titles

The name of a job may have two versions. For example, "translator" may
be hon'yakuka (翻訳家) or hon'yakusha (翻訳者). Job
titles ending in ka (家), meaning "expert", usually imply some
kind of expertise, thus, by the rules of modesty in Japanese, they are
not usually used for oneself. The plain form with sha (者),
meaning "person", may be used by the person or in plain text, such as
the book title. Use of the ka ending implies respect. Similarly,
judo practitioners are jūdōka (柔道家), or "judo experts", and
manga authors are mangaka (漫画家) or "manga experts".

In the case of farmers, the old name hyakushō (百姓) (literally
"one hundred surnames") is now considered offensive, and farmers are
referred to, and refer to themselves as, nōka (農家), or
"farming experts".

Honorific job titles such as sensei, which is applied to teachers
and doctors, also have plain forms. For example, in plain language, a
teacher is a kyōshi (教師) and a doctor is an isha (医者)
or ishi (医師). The polite versions are used when addressing or
talking about the person, but the plain forms of the jobs are used in
other cases.

Dewi Fujin, "Mrs Dewi" or "Madam Dewi"

Fujin

Fujin (夫人) is a title similar to "Mrs" in English, used to
specify the wife of a couple. It tends to be used with persons of high
status, such as television celebrity Dewi Fujin (デヴィ夫人),
former wife of Indonesian president Sukarno.

Titles for criminals and the accused

Convicted criminals are referred to with the title hikoku (被告)
instead of san. For example, Matsumoto hikoku of Aum
Shinrikyo. Suspects awaiting trial are referred to by the title
yōgisha (容疑者).

Titles for companies

As mentioned above, companies often refer
to each other's offices informally using the company name plus
san. In correspondence, the title onchū (御中) is added to
the company name when the letter is not addressed to a specific person
in the company. Furthermore, the legal status of the company is
usually included, either incorporated, kabushikigaisha (株式会社), or limited, yūgen gaisha (有限会社). These may be
abbreviated with the kanji kabu (株) or yū (有) in
brackets.